Aboriginal men sue Qantas over flight

THEY say they were removed from a plane and locked in a bus like dogs. Rob Oakeshott was on the flight. He's backing them.&nbsp;

AAPApril 25, 20131:27pm

Qantas. Picture: FileSource:Supplied

A GROUP of Aboriginal men are suing Qantas after they were kicked off a flight.

The eight men, who were on their way home from an indigenous leadership program in Cairns, say they were thrown off the Qantas plane before it left Sydney almost three years ago.

The men were allegedly locked in a bus parked on the tarmac for an hour-and-a-half, before being escorted back to the terminal.

The men say they were told they could not travel as a group and would have to catch separate flights, in pairs, the following morning.

The group are suing Qantas for damages, accusing the airline of false imprisonment, according to ABC TV.

One of the men, Michael Edwards, said he was humiliated during the incident.

"People were looking at us giggling, and you know I felt like a criminal, like I'd done something really bad and we did nothing wrong," he told ABC TV.

Chris Edwards said the men were not allowed out of the bus for an hour-and-a-half, even to go to the toilet.

"We were on the bus for an hour, two hours, like little dogs we was, they just had us like dogs on a bus," Mr Edwards said.

In a statement, Qantas said it was defending the claims in court.

"Qantas is defending these claims in court, and as such, we won’t be commenting on the specifics of this case," a Qantas spokesman said. "Broadly speaking, Qantas has a zero tolerance policy towards behaviour it believes could compromise the safety of anyone on our aircraft. This policy is applied equally to all passengers."

Flight attendant Kelly Kalimnios said the men were behaving in a rowdy and boisterous manner, with one calling her "white trash", an affidavit shows.

Federal independent MP Rob Oakeshott, who was also on the flight, said he supports the indigenous men's claims.

"From everything I saw they were behaving no different to anyone else who is a bit excited about catching a plane," Mr Oakeshott said.

"It was an extremely heavy-handed response."

A hearing over the case is set to take place in a Sydney court in August.